Letters to the editor for Feb. 5 2013

Mental illness the issue, not guns

Virtually every moment of our waking lives brings us into conflict or compliance with a massive body of demands we call laws. If we practiced what the Bible preaches, and common sense were common, at least 90 percent of laws would be a waste of paper and time, and politicians and lawyers would be forced to find honest employment. Laws may be enacted for the best of reasons or the worst of reasons, but most laws are a mixture of both.

Laws differ from state to state, county to county, and city to city. Start up a leaf blower in the wrong city and the long arm of the law will be in your front yard with you. That rusty old shotgun that Grandpa gave you can get you jail time if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The IRS is a prolific generator of laws designed to separate the working man from the products of his labor. Every year we attempt to minimize what the IRS seeks to maximize. Every year the laws are different.

The worst kind of laws are "hysterical" laws. These are commonly reactions to some tragic event that allows our esteemed politicos to rally forth and bend their wisdom to the problem. In most cases the problem already has multiple solutions that have not been effective, so adding one or two more is a waste of time.

Case in point: the school shootings in Connecticut. The shooter was using someone else's gun, and he was breaking many laws before he killed the first child. Is it reasonable to think that those precious kids would still be alive if there were a couple more laws on the books? In reaction to this tragic incident, our trusted leaders have proposed legislation that would not the prevent the same situation. Instead, they are seeking punitive restrictions on law-abiding citizens who are not part of the problem.

The problem is not with a mindless chunk of metal, it is mental illness. Until legislation can cure mental illness, we are fighting the war with the wrong weapons.

Robert Braun

Salinas

Guns make their owners target of thieves

Now why exactly is it these criminal hordes (meaning groups larger than two) want so desperately to break into your home?

Are you hoarding vast wealth that they can steal and then retire to a tropical paradise?

(If so, why aren't you safely tucked away in that tropical paradise?)

Do you hold massive food stores and there is no other food source available?

(In which case everyone would be a criminal and trying to get to your food.)

Are you in fact so irresistible they must commit multiple felonies so they can force themselves upon you?

(Sorry, but this assumption that rape is about sex rather than holding power over someone reeks of arrogance and naiveté.)

Or perhaps the reason any group of criminals would break into your home is so they can arm themselves against the authorities - isn't that part of your reasoning as well - with your guns?

And if you think criminals aren't going to sacrifice some of their own to get what they want, well, back to that comment about naiveté. (Remember, leadership of any kind defines the group primarily as its leadership.)

Oh wait, I forgot, every gun owner is John Freakin' Wayne and never misses and can defeat any enemy single-handedly ? so why do you need 30 round clips and multiple weapons?

So yes, keep bragging about all the weapons you own and how well you can defend yourself, because if criminal hordes ever do start breaking into homes the way you mean, they'll be coming to your house first, giving the rest of us ample warning to escape.

Kenneth Deome

Salinas

Anti-abortion march ignored by media

On Jan. 26, I experienced for the first time a Walk-For-Life Rally in San Francisco protesting abortion and its legalization 40 years ago. The effect of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision has brought the death of almost a third of this country's younger generation, as well as untold emotional and psychological damage to their mothers. The brutality of abortion today takes the lives of more than 3,000 babies each day and a million a year in our nation alone.

While tens of thousands marched down Market Street on Saturday to protest the carnage of abortion, there were a few hundred mothers protesting the carnage from gun violence. There was only media attention on the few hundred mothers and not the thousands of marchers. I wonder why the media chooses to focus on murder by guns and not murder by abortion?

We all need to plead for God's mercy on this nation for the 52 million unborn children taken from us since Roe v. Wade.

Chris Bunn

Salinas

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Letters to the editor for Feb. 5 2013

Virtually every moment of our waking lives brings us into conflict or compliance with a massive body of demands we call laws.